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Friday, October 31, 2014

Read no further if the f word offends you. I used it on a postcard to someone I knew would appreciate it and am showing the card in this post.

These three went off to specific people who should have them by now so I'm posting them.

This went off to a girl I've been friends with since we were in 7th grade. 48 years! We met the first dayand were inseparable thereafter. Grew up ineach other's houses. Barely kept track of oneanother for decades. Now we write back and fortha few times a year. Not a whole lot to say.

Scored a couple how-to-type books at the library sale andmade this for a typewriter loving person I know.Hi, Pamela!

I freely admit that I have a crude sense of humor and swear way too much. That said, it's no wonder I couldn'tstop giggling over this postcard. I know the recipient will enjoy it too.

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

As I suspected, the photos I snapped with the tablet camera were pretty bad so here are the postcards again but scanned this time, the only way to go with flat items, IMHO.

And since I'm sitting at a regular computer with a normal keyboard, I'll even do some commentary.

These are all available so if you like one, shoot me an email or leave a comment and I'll send it off to you. Don't be shy - I made them to send, so claim one if it grabs you.

These 3 elements were all random things that I kinda liked but couldn't figure out exactly what to do with. Then I came across the "growing old gracefully" in my words box and the three stages of a woman's life zipped thru my mind - child, woman, old and gray.The dog seemed fitting as stage 3 since it's what I see in the mirror some mornings lol.

The school girls shot was from a calendar and the silly knocked-kneed lady is from a park brochure my traveling friend Julie-in-SD gaveme a while back. Whistler Canada, maybe? Julie, are you reading this?I liked the images together and found some words that fit.

These two odd images of men kept turning up as I sifted thruthe box looking for things to use. Normally I like things inthrees - the golden rule of thirds - but I had nothing else thatwent with these so did them like this and ended up likingit well enough. Bizarre words to go with them andplayed with drawing frames.

This woman is actually hanging from gymnastic still rings.It was an add for something or other, no idea now, and I justliked the long image. Added some color to perk it upand an enigmatic question.

There was a series in a magazine of this man making various faces.They all looked about like these and I've used a couple of themon cards months ago. The newspaper phrase seemed perfect.

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

I've been tearing out images that grab me for years and filling boxes and file folders with them. What I haven't been doing with them is using them for anything, so this weekend I zipped thru a box, used some and threw the rest away. Felt good. I may work my way thru a few more boxes.
Meanwhile here are the cards I made. They're all on cardboard cut from a shoebox I was about to throw away.
I'm doing this post on my tablet using photos I took with the tablet camera, which I think might not be all that hot, so if the whole thing sucks when I look at it on my puter later, my apologies and I'll redo it.

Thursday, October 16, 2014

Got my cards back from the MMSA swap, plus one from a friend. Asemic writing is definitely an interesting addition to a card. There's pretty much no way to do it wrong, and these cards each have their own sort of scribbles.

This one is from Carlene in TN.

Gelli print, washi tape, patterned paper.

From J E Lichtenstein in MD.

Book text, handmade paper, paint.

This is a pretty one from Jo in Australia.

Painted paper, washi tape.

Pretty background on this one from Jan in AZ. Love the heavy black marks on the delicate ground.

Lastly, a funny one from my longtime mailart pal Jewels in MI.I think it's hard to see in the pic, but there are a few "bleep"s in amongst the asemic writing as the cops have trouble figuring out their new gadgets.

Monday, October 13, 2014

Last nite, while flipping thru an old LIFE mag I bought at the library book sale (more on that later) I spotted this opera singer with her mouth open wide. She was just begging to be on a postcard so that's what I did. One of my gelli print backgrounds, some old book text, and 'look out' from my little box of fun words. The great splat is from a bingo marker, banged down hard on the card.

Friday, October 10, 2014

Round postcards are fun. Makes me think about the space totally differently in terms of what I want to use on it. Last year, I worked with the circles in two different ways - a round photo on one and words around the edge on the other.

This year I wasn't as inspired. Long day at work or something. I layered both cards with old text, always a good neutral start. Leafed thru my old pics until I found this round baby, cut him in a circle and layered him on torn circles of dress pattern tissue and a used tea bag. When I came back to it, I did some pen work which led to the pic looking like a flower, which led me to the flower child caption. So simple is my thought process.

Decided to use stamps on the other one, and as I was sifting thru them, I kept coming to vehicles of various types. It wasn't much of a mental leap to planes, trains and automobiles. But I think the actual movie title is Trains, Plains and Automobiles, right? So I'm out of order. What a surprise.

Monday, October 6, 2014

Autumn was my mom's favorite season, and as a kid, I thought she was nuts. Who doesn't love summer? No school, play all day, hot summer nights with the boys. Ah, those were the days. But as I got older I developed a real appreciation for fall. The cooler weather is nice, the trees are lovely (even here in N California), I like the flowers of autumn. Even the darker mornings and earlier evenings are ok, giving me the urge to bake and cook more since I can't be out in the garden. This morning I decided to decorate a bit and dug the autumn boxes out of the attic. I gave up the decorating for seasons thing years ago. Just lost the oomph to get it out, put it away, etc. But I enjoyed looking at things I hadn't had out in a couple years, and did the mantle and fireplace area, which is sort of the only place I have to decorate. We pretty much live in the kitchen and family room, so the effort is wasted anywhere else.

The full view.

I made all the pumpkins years ago with my friend Moneka.Those curly willow branches live in the huge Mason jar all year.

Most of this stuff was on the mantle until I moved it down here just now.I like the look so maybe it'll just stay there thru the holidays.

A small collage I made a couple years ago.The lace on the bottom is from an ancient shawl I bought 30 years ago and have been hauling around ever since.

My husband made the clock and the wooden box is vintage.Not sure what it was before I bought it but I love it.The green 9 drawer chest behind it is another favorite piece.

Thursday, October 2, 2014

The ATCs mentioned in the previous post. These already had background on them, so I worked on adding at least two more techniques and creating some sort of interesting collage. I haven't made ATCs in a while and was struck again, as I always am, at what a perfect art form they are. Compact, doable in a short amount of time, just enough space to tell a little story.